The Sun is dropping in periodically this year on Patti Clarke's fourth-grade classroom at North Kitsap's Vinland Elementary School to explore issues in public education through the prism of her classroom. While a veteran teacher, this is Clarke's first year in the North Kitsap School District.

Today: Do all the extra things schools try to do with kids, like musicals and science fairs, enhance education or interfere with the teaching of core subjects?

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It was early Tuesday at North Kitsap's Vinland Elementary School and a rap beat poured from speakers in the gym.

"We are Americans livin' in a land that's free. We can make choices, choose our own way. We can make choices, choose our own destiny," the fourth-graders sang.

As the song ended, practice for the musical wrapped up.

As she had done several times in the past hour, fourth-grade teacher Patti Clarke checked her watch. Her students needed to get to P.E.

As they filed out of the room, Clarke made a mental note that the students would work at least until lunch on science projects for the upcoming fair. She hoped there would be time for a math lesson later that day. Reading might have to wait.

Since Christmas, the musical and the science fair have dominated class time. While she understands the value in these activities, the veteran teacher said she's beginning to believe that they unnecessarily interfere with teaching core subjects.

"I have mixed feelings about the musical because it takes up a lot of the day," she said. "I thought about opting out earlier this year because I felt it took up too much instructional time, but because I'm new I thought I should step back and see how it happens."

This is Clarke's first year teaching in North Kitsap, and her 14th year as a teacher.

At the musical practice Tuesday, Clarke's students stood in rows across the gym, shuffling their feet and whispering to each other.

Fourth-grade teacher Shirley Parrot walked among the rows, complimenting the kids in the chorus for being quiet while the lead actors stood in front practicing their lines.

"You guys are doing good. I know this is hard," she said.

Soon the music swelled and the students voices rose. They sang confidently, raising their fists in the air.

Clarke's students like to sing. Several of the kids have speaking parts in the musical, which Fairchild worked hard to adapt for Vinland, said Clarke.

"With the political climate in the country right now, it's good to be singing about freedom," Clarke added. The musical also gives the kids a little "front-loading" on American history, which they will study in depth in fifth grade.

Still, the 45 minutes per day she's been spending teaching her kids the songs, along with rehearsals during the past few weeks have taken valuable class time.

The science fair, for which every student must have an individual, in-depth project, has been a big undertaking, too.

On Tuesday, after P.E., Clarke's students worked on their own, compiling data and writing essays. Two fifth-grade boys tutored several students on creating charts and graphs with computer programs.

Some students measured tested the melting rate of various types of ice cubes. Others tested the rate of rot on apples. One boy soaked three different types of fabric in water and gauged the rate of evaporation.

"The kids have really risen to the occasion," Clarke said. "They have had to use high levels of thinking, to synthesize information from articles and to speculate what will happen in their experiments."

Students have used the Internet for research, compiled data and written essays. Their success Tuesday at creating charts and graphs using Microsoft Excel was exciting, she said.

Still, wondered Clarke, wouldn't it be better to move the science fair, and the musical, to later in the year?

After all, the fourth-graders will be taking the all-important Washington Assessment of Student Learning in late April and early May.

Right now, Clarke said, "We have bigger fish to fry."

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Musical today

The fourth-graders at Vinland Elementary will perform a patriotic musical at 2 and 7 p.m. today.

Performances are open to the public.

The school is at 22104 Rhododendron Lane near the Finn Hill Road exit in Poulsbo.

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